Ventilated



Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

H. R. STRAIGHT.

VENTILATED BUILDING BLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-14.19%. 1,822,646}

zuziilqss HALVEB; a. STRAIGHT, or epnnirowa r e VENTILATED BUILDINGQBLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent; Patgnted N 1919;

Application filed August 14, 1916. Serial No. 114,739.

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that I, HALVER R. STRAIGHT,

a citizen of the United States, and residentv of Adel, in the countyjof Dallas and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Ventilated Building-Block, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to and consists in certain new and useful improvements in' ventilated building blocks of the class illus-' trated and described in my Patent No..

1,154,219. r k r In connection with the manufacture of the kind of tile blocks illustrated and de i scribed in my said patent, I have in certain. instances had difficulty onaccount of the fact that when the tile arev beingdried and burned the outer wall of thetile block would dry :firstbefore the partition members, and on that account the shrinkage of material which occurs during the drying would cause cracks to develop in the partition members adjacent to the outer wall, thus weakening the-finishedproduct. One of the objects of my invention is to avoid this difiiculty by so shaping thepartition members that when the outer walls dryand shrink before theppartitions,

the curved partitions will tend to straighten and thus avoid such strains as tend to cause the partitions to crack at pointsadjacent to the walls.

In niak' g circular walls by means of my improve'dtile and with the form thereof weakening the structure.

illustrated in my said patent, I have found some difii'culty in thoroughly imposing and embedding all of the binding and reinforcing wlres in the cement layers between the rows ofbuilding blocks, and when the wires are not thoroughly embedded the exposure thereof to the weather tends to permit the wires to rust-and become. weakened, thus Another object trated in the accompanying drawings, in

' which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective'view of my vention. i

Flg. 2 shows a vertical sectional view of a part of a wall constructed of my improved building blocks.

Fig. 3 shows a vertical sectional view of a 7 part of a well constructed of my improved building blocks, taken on the line 33 of Fig. 4, and

Figat shows plan View of a part of a' circular wall constructed of my improved building blocks.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, my improved block is seen to comprisea top member 10, abottom member 11, and two side members 12, forming the outer walls of the block, and twojsubst'antially hori zontal partitions 13 forming what I have hereinafter termed the partition members.

7 improved building block embodying my in- The building bloclris designed in'such a manner that it may be formed ofclay on the ordinary'tile making machines by the use of suitably formed dies, and also so that the ends thereof may be cut off by an ordinary tile cutter and without the use of hand work. i i

The top and bottom members are arranged in substantially. parallel planes and the ends of the blockpare cut ofi' at an angle divergent from an angle at right angles to the top I and bottom members, so that when the building blocks are laid in a wall the top and bottom members may incline downwardly and toward the outer surface of the wall, and the inner and outer ends of the building blocks may both be vertical, as illustratedin Fig. 3. I

'In'order to avoid the danger of having the partition members. crack during thedrying or burning process, I have arched or curved the partition members 13 upwardly V at their centers, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1. This obviously does not in any way add to the difficulty of manufacturing these block by means of dies, and the advantage gained by this arching or curving of the partitions upwardly is as follows:

After the building blocks have been formed and the tile clay of which they are formed is still in a somewhat pliable condition, the blocks are dried and burned.

i and "burning; occur, However, having In cases where the jacentto' the outer wall when this drying the central portions of the partitions arched, I have found that when the outer walls shrink during the drying and burning processes,the arched partitions which are still somewhat plasti'cxor pliable will on account of their weight,' straighten out 15 to a slight eXtent, SllfllCielit,- however,"to

prevent cracking the ends of the partitions where they ']o1n the side Walls."

" These building blocks. are employed largely" foruse in the construction of circular corn cribs a nd I have found that by having the partitions arched as'shown, the

' Ventilating openings throughfthe wall are of such irregular character that material- ,l-ike" ears of corn will not readily pass through said openings and is, not as likely to pass through the openings as though' the partitions were parallel with the top and,

bottom wall members, so that this arching of, the partition vperforms'the double function of preventing the cracking of the partitions during the :dryingand burning processes, and also makes a Wall better adapted for-holding such material as ears for corn.

In the erection of a circular wall by the use of my improved blocks, it is customary to first build a suitable base 14, inclined downwardly and 1 outwardly, and then to lay the rows of building blocks on said base. The building is usually made circular, as illustrated in Fig. 4, and the blocks" are always made of uniform width from end'to tend. Hence in a circular building the spaces between the side by side blocks are larger at the outer side of the build- 7 ing than they are at the inner side, as illustrated at a in Fig. 4.

Furthermore, in such buildings itis cus-' tomary ,tolay up the rows of blocks without mortar "between the side by side. edges, but

between the horizontal rows of blocks a relatively thick layer of mortar or] cement is used, and in this mortar or cement the. oilcular: binding or reinforcing wires or rods 7 15 are embedded. It is important that every part of each wire 'or rod be thorthe V top surface 10 of each block with a downwardly and outwardly inclined porlow' this downwardly and "outwardly in-" clinedportion is a shoulder 17. The same construction is used at the under vsurface of the bottom 11, althoug'hthis is not of so much importance. 4 r

When the mortar or cement that is'to be oughly covered by and embedded in the ce- 5 menu For this purpose I have provided '60 tion -16.-- At the side edge thereof and beused'is of the proper consistency, I have found that whenit is placed in a thick layer on the top surface of a row of these building, blocks it will adhere to the inclined portions l6' 'and, be retarded by the 'shoulders 17 so that it will pileup overjthe space a'between the sideby side block sand thus" form- 'a-continuous layer across arow of blocks, in which the wires may be embedded and fully covered.

In connection with blocks shown in my1 said patent,- I have found that where the top and bottom mem- .'-'bers of thetile are substantially fiat it is diflicult in all instances tovhave the layer of mortar supported across the space be tween two side byside blocks, and this mortar frequently drops down between the blocks and leaves thewire exposed. This the forin Or n lilting difliculty, however, has been avoided by the use of the inclined ders '17. V t V I claim as' my invention:

' A masonry structure comprising a pluralsurfaces 16 and the shoulity'of tile arranged in courses, the upper and lower surfaces ofthe tile being inclined from one surface of the wall or course downwardly and toward the opposite surface, the

ends of-said tile being arranged in verti cal planes, each of said tile having near its side edges comparatively narrow inclined portions "terminating in shoulders for. the retaining of mortar, reinforcing between whereby the mortar around the reinforcing mlay be thickest at the joints between the,

tie.j; Des Moines, Iowa, May '19, '1916.

HALVER R. STRAIGHT.

the courses'and 'mortar'for' said reinforcing 

